Congregation
The 36th Congregation was held on 18th November 2023. It was a joyful event not only because of celebrating new fellows’ and awardees’ achievements but also seeing many happy faces without masks.
This year, it was a great honour to have Dr Libby Lee’s presence and to hear her story about her first day as a fellow of anaesthesia. If you did not attend the Congregation, Dr Lee’s heart-warming speech can be found here.
In the opening address delivered by Dr Hing-yu So, it summarised the tasks that College completed and College’s plan on how to nurture our young leaders including setting up HKCA Distinguished Young Fellow Awards. The speech can be found here.
For more delightful photos taken at the ASM, Congregation and Congregation Dinner, please visit the Photo Gallery in Members Area.
A Journey in Green, by Dr Lydia Lau
As the holiday season begins and the last registration and budget reports appear in emails, I can finally be comforted that the year of planning for the Annual Scientific Meeting in Anaesthesiology (ASM) 2023 has come to an end.
It has been my honour and pleasure to help chair this year’s meeting. When Dr Albert Chan, now Chief of Service of the Prince of Wales Hospital asked me if I am interested in taking on the task of chairing ASM 2023, I was slightly apprehensive, but said yes. Who could miss out on this truly once in a lifetime opportunity to chair the biggest anaesthesiology event of the year in Hong Kong! However, as all the past chairs would know, it is no small feat.
As with all daunting tasks, I relied heavily on the advice of seniors and predecessors. I would like to thank my advisors Dr Simon Chan and Dr Vivian Lau for their wisdom, Ms Kristy Cheung our College CEO for her efficient and abundant support and the kind words from various previous Chairs who reassured me that I will receive immense help along the way – and I did. Anaesthesiologists often practise team work in work settings, and holding such a large event definitely brings team work to a next level!
The theme for this year’s ASM was “A New Leaf”. With the social distancing rules relaxing and the mask mandate being dropped around the time we had one of our first organising committee meetings, it became apparent that we will be resuming a first fully physical meeting after a 4-year hiatus, since the last one in 2018! Thinking back on the past 4 years, Hong Kong has endured social unrest and the COVID pandemic, and our colleagues have endured working in COVID conditions, donning full PPE multiple times daily, experiencing loss and burnout as colleagues and friends move to different workplaces and countries. In 2023, changes seem to have slowed down, like sedimentation where sand stirred up in a water tank settles to the bottom and the water finally becomes clearer again, Hong Kong seemed to have returned to normal, or at least a new normal.
Quoting one of our keynote speakers Professor Gregory Hammer’s book GAIN, “Partnering your goals with intentions, you can savour the journey. Living is a process, there is no destination.” Our organizing committee’s goal might be to hold an ASM for anaesthesiologists in Hong Kong, hopefully with acceptable attendance and not at a budget deficit, but our Intention was definitely to help everyone Turn Over a New Leaf. Through our meeting, we wanted to bring our whole anaesthesiology community together and help the growing of new knowledge, new friendships, new connections, new wisdom and new hope. We were blessed with vast support from College, Society, local and international colleagues from China and other countries such as Australia, Singapore and Korea along the way, and managed to create an event with great turnout of close to 500 delegates. Through this intention of “A New Leaf”, we all really enjoyed this challenging yet rewarding Journey in Green.
Dean and Professor Davy Cheng’s inspiring talk speaks of anaesthesiologists’ aspiration to not just be a clinician, but be a clinician-researcher, clinician-administrator and clinician-teacher, because the skills and circumstances our specialty allows us to have and be in enables a broader range of application in the medical field and in the society. I cannot help but think, maybe my OC and I have become clinician-event organizers this year! Let’s hope to continue to develop our careers and celebrate anaesthesiology!
ANZCA Emerging Leaders Conference
Every year, ANZCA invites the College to nominate a Fellow, who is within five years of fellowship, to attend ANZCA Emerging Leaders Conference (ELC), its former event was New Fellows Conference. The ELC is a three-day meeting with the purpose of facilitating the development of leadership capabilities in those new fellows identified as being significant future contributors to our profession and the College.
The College used to invite COS of each training centre to nominate a colleague from their department. The College is committed to equal opportunity and encourages applications from a broad diversity of new fellows. Starting from 2023, the application process has been changed from “nomination by COS” to “individual application”. The eligibility and criteria for selection follow the instructions set laid down by ANZCA. The College received overwhelming responses but ANZCA offers one place to the College only as the opportunity is so precious and competitive among ANZCA young fellows. Among those applicants, Dr Lydia Lau has been selected to attend the ELC in 2024.
Engaging and nurturing our young leaders is one of the goals in the College’s strategic plan. To extend an opportunity for participating the ELC to wider range of local young fellows, ANZCA and HKCA agree in principle to run a similar event in Hong Kong for our young fellows. The details, including the event name, are yet to be confirmed. If you have any event name ideas, please let us know your suggestion by emailing to kristy@hkca.edu.hk.
Special Interest Groups
At the College’s retreat held in January 2023, it was found that formation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) would be beneficial to the development of the College and the community. Hence, the Council decided to establish a mechanism for setting up SIGs. Thanks to the Fellows Affairs Subcommittee’s effort, the terms of reference for SIGs has been developed. The relevant documents and application form for creating SIGs can be downloaded from the College’s website. For further enquiries regarding SIGs, please send an email to SIG@hkca.edu.hk .
Young Fellows Committee Updates
The Young Fellows Committee (YFC) hosted the inaugural Young Fellows symposium on the use and future of artificial intelligence (AI) in anaesthesia on 19th November 2023, as part of the ASM 2023. The symposium featured three distinguished speakers including Dean Prof. Davy Cheng, Dr. Kenny Chan, and Mr. Dennis Lee. They shared their insights and experiences on how AI can enhance the quality and safety of anaesthesia practice, as well as the challenges and opportunities for anaesthesia education and research. The symposium attracted a large audience of young fellows, trainees, and senior anaesthetists, who actively participated in the Q&A session and expressed their views and queries on the topic. The symposium was a great success and demonstrated the YFC’s commitment to promoting academic exchange and professional development among young fellows.
Each year, our college nominates 1-2 fellows who have demonstrated well-rounded and outstanding achievements in their first 10 years’ post-fellowship to receive the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM) Distinguished Young Fellows Award. Congratulations to Dr. Carmen Lam and Dr. Timothy Yang for being the awardees for 2023.
Dr. Carmen Lam (TMH) is a Consultant anaesthetist working at Tuen Mun Hospital. 
She has obtained a Master’s degree in Perioperative Medicine at the Monash University, Australia. She is the service lead for the perioperative CPEX and prehabilitation service of her hospital cluster and has helped promote the CPET service across Hong Kong. She is also a service lead for SMART OT initiatives. She has previously served as SOT of her hospital, and has been serving as examiner for the fellowship examination since 2018. She is also a faculty member and course director for numerous simulation-based courses at the HKJCILCM. She is currently a member of the Board of Examination, Clinical Simulation Committee and Perioperative Medicine Committee of our college. Carmen has shown outstanding commitment to training and service development in her various leadership roles.
Dr. Timothy Yang (QEH) is an Associate Consultant anaesthetist, and accredited cardiac anaesthetist working at 
Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He is one of 12 founding members of the Young Fellows Committee, and has organised a social service event for anaesthetists at the Crossroads Foundation HK. Within 5 years of fellowship, he has co-authored several published systemic reviews and meta-analyses. He is a highly committed trainer, and has mentored multiple trainees with their research projects; in 2023, he was nominated for the role of assistant SOT of his hospital. At the college level, he is now serving as an Assistant Formal Project Officer and a member of the Board of Education.
Carmen and Timothy have been selected because they have both excelled as a collaborator, service leader, trainer and scholar at their respective workplace. The YFC hope that this short introduction of their numerous achievements can inspire other trainees and young specialists to be well-round physician leaders in our community.
Supervisors of Training (SOTs) Meeting
A SOTs meeting was held on 18th November 2023 at the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre. Feedback from SOTs regarding the challenges they encountered were collected, the problems were addressed and potential solutions were discussed. Their feedback would be further discussed at the Board of Education meeting.
Issues causing potential delay of training progression were pointed out at the meeting. These include incomplete logbook or WBA, incomplete mandatory courses, or attending the wrong course. Every minute counts! Trainees should be aware of the training requirement and should keep track of your own training progress. No allowance would be given starting from 1st January 2024.
Best Practice Guidelines for Expert Witnesses
On 1st November 2021, the College wrote a note to the HKAM to draw the attention of HKAM and other Colleges regarding the code of conduct of expert witness. For details, please click here. Two years later, the HKAM developed the Best Practice Guidelines for Expert Witness which can be found here.
Positive Psychology Workshop
The Welfare Committee is conducting a Positive Psychology Project and introduction of the project was held on 4th November 2023. If you would like to learn more about the project and also why the Committee decided to embark on this journey, please watch the video here. If you have any questions about the project, please send an email to welfare@hkca.edu.hk.
Hospitals Accreditation in Shenzhen
It has been a busy November. After the ASM, Dr Hing-yu So participated in hospital accreditation in Shenzhen from 21st – 24th November 2023.
The following 8 hospitals were visited during the 4 days.
- Shenzhen People’s Hospital
- The Second People’s Hospital of Shenzhen
- Peking University Shenzhen Hospital
- The Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology Union Shenzhen Hospital
- The Hong Kong University Shenzhen Hospital
- LuoHu People’s Hospital
- Shenzhen Children’s Hospital
The visit was an eye-opening experience not only because of the size of hospital facility but also the luxury facility provided to their staff. The following is not a private ward but a bedroom for staff.
Dr Ronald Lo’s visit
On 8th December 2023, there was a special guest visiting the College – Dr Ronald Lo. Dr Lo was the President of the College during 1993-1995. During his visit, he talked about why he chose to be an anaesthetist and the development of anaesthesia during his career. During the conversation, he spoke with such passion in anaesthesiology in his eyes despite he retired long time ago. How wonderful and fulfilling it is if you have a career you are passionate about.
Following the visit, Dr Lo attended the HKAM’s 30th Anniversary Celebration and 4 generations of President of the College gathered.
From left to right:
Dr Yu-Fat Chow, 2011-2015
Dr Ronald Lo, 1993-1995
Dr Hing-yu So, 2021-now
Dr Chi-tim Hung, 1995-1999
International Academy of Colleges of Anaesthesiologists (IACA)
On the 18th September 2023 at 5pm (HK time), the IACA hosted its webinar on the vital theme of patient safety. In the webinar, Professor Terry Tan (College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland) chaired a panel of distinguished safety and quality representatives of IACA partner colleges, including Jenny Westaway, Tibbs Pereira, Assoc. Prof. Jo Sutherland, Dr Tsun-woon Lee, Dr Brian McCloskey, and Ms Helen Maxwell-Wright.
The panel discussed the 2023 World Health Organisation Patient Safety Day theme: ‘Engaging patients for patient safety,’ and focus on what we can learn from anaesthesiology and perioperative care around subjects including:
- Patient voice
- Leadership and culture
- Clinical practice and quality
- Regulations and mandates
To learn more about the webinar, please click here. For further reading, the webinar resource guide with useful information from our speakers and panellists can be downloaded here.
